Monday, April 2, 2012

A Titanic Prediction!

The RMS Titanic is one of the most legendary stories in maritime
history. There have been many myths about the Titanic, from laying
of her hull to the death of the last survivor. Yet, there is one story
that stands out among Titanic lore and that is Morgan Robertson's 1898
novel Futility, or the Wreak of the Titan. That's right, someone wrote a story about a ship named the Titan
sinking, and guess what it happened in the North Atlantic and oh yea,
it struck an iceberg. I know what your thinking, bullshit right? But no
it's true, Google it. And there is a freakish parallelness between the Titan and Titanic, some which are too close to seem true.

wired.com

The mother of all Titanic legends is the story of the Titan. Robertson's story follows deck hand John Rowland, a failed British Naval lieutenant who is down and out on his luck and working on the Titan. However,
for this piece that's all that Rowland will be mentioned, but for those who
are interested he lives happily ever after. So how does the Titan stack up to the Titanic?
First would be size, the Titanic measured at 800ft while the Titan
measured 882ft, thus making both the biggest ships on the sea at the
time. Second would be the fact that both ships did not have
enough lifeboats. Third, and the icing on the cake, both ships were
dubbed "unsinkable." I bet Bruce Ismay wished he had read Robertson's
story before he called the Titanic "unsinkable." But the similarities
don't stop there, there are a few more which are too close to call and simply be
coincidence.

cruiselinehistory.com

How many more similarities can there be? Well when it comes to the
sinking of this ships, a lot more. First, the iceberg. Both struck an
iceberg and both struck it going way above a average speed. The Titan was steaming along at 25 knots and the Titanic
at 22 knots. Both ships hit the iceberg on their starboard sides. And
oh yea, both went down about 400 miles east of Newfoundland. Second,
both went down by the bow forcing the stern to rise out of the water.
However, in the case of the Titan, she would capsize and finally
sink. Third, casualties. As I said before both ships lacked a sufficient
amount of lifeboats which caused massive loss of life. The Titan lost 2500 fictional souls, while the Titanic
lost 2200. Both ships had their maiden voyages in April. And oh yea,
both ships were the largest ships on the ocean at the time of their
sinking. And one more eerie coincidence, there was an ice warning from
the lookouts. We all know the Titanic's "iceberg, right ahead!" while the Titan's
went a little something like this, "ice, ice, ahead iceberg!" We can
see that the story was somewhat of perhaps a warning or we can see it as
just a story.

scribd.com

There are some difference between the two ships. The Titan had almost no survivors, only 13, while Titanic had 705. The sinking times also vary greatly, Titanic sinking in 2 and half hours and Titan in only minutes. The ships were heading in opposite directions, Titan to England and Titanic
to America. There are several other difference but they are so minor
and I wouldn't want to bore you with the fiction of the story. But how
do we look at the story of the Titan, and more important how do
we look at Robertson? Can we see him among the likes of Nostradamus
and other great future telling prophets? Or just as a guy who wanted to
write a story to scare the crap out people sailing across the Atlantic
and entertain his audience. Well what if I told you this was one of
Robertson's many prediction?

syracuse.com

So of course when Robertson publish his story he had no idea the
impact his story would have in 1912. In fact it's because of this that
his other works were even looked at and surprise surprise there is other
creepy predictions in his works. First in 1905 he published the SubmarineDestroyer,
which a submarine used a new piece of technology called a "periscope"
which wouldn't be used by the U.S. Navy for several more years. In his
short story BeyondtheSpectrum(1914) he talked
about a future war between the United States and Japan. A war which
would be started by a surprise attack by the Japanese on American ships
on their way to the Philippines. He also published a short story which
some literary scholars say was the influence and basis for the novel TheBlueLagoon and Tarzanand theApes.
Again, is this a coincidence or was Robertson some type of future
seeing genius? I am pretty sure that it's all coincidence and Robertson
was looking just to entertain. I highly doubt he had a supernatural gift
to see the future for if he did he would have seen his own death which
was an accidental overdose of paraldehyde. In the end I think
we can see Robertson and the story of the Titan and its similarities to the Titanic as just another piece of Titanic lore and myth, which is sure to keep the legend of Titanic going for perhaps another 100 years.